Posts Tagged ‘champorado’

I just put my email folder on sweep- to- zero mode once a day, at exactly 12 midnight. I just don’t have time to read blogs anymore. At most , I can read 20 a day, and that’s it. I work from 12:30 PM to 9 PM, sometimes beyond that, and that’s okay because I get paid double an hour. I once called myself the Goddess of Insomnia. Cassie, my blog buddy, can attest to that. It’d be 6 AM at Harrisburg, and 3 AM here in California, but we always got to chat at that unholy hour, and that was almost everyday. Three hours of sleep was enough for me. But then, real time in my real life has abruptly changed my biological ‘clock. Nowadays, I can barely open my eyes at 10 PM. Drinking a cup of strong coffee doesn’t work on me anymore. To make the story short, I’m sorry if I don’t get to read your posts . I try to catch up on my off days ( Tuesday and Saturday, or any scheduled days in a week…. they vary ) .

With that off my chest…….

I promised I’d talk about a Filipino delicacy called Balut and chocolate rice called Champorado.

Balut is a delicacy in the Philippines. According to Wiki, it is a partially fertilized duck embryo, incubated for 14 to 21 days , boiled or steamed , and eaten from the shell, like hard boiled egg. It does taste like hard – boiled egg, except that, we get to see the duck embryo , the beak, eyes, etc. I know, it’s gross. My Mom and I had eaten it once when we were there in 2014, out of curiosity. My dad said he had eaten it maybe 6 times, and only when he was drunk. ^_^ Balut eggs are usually sold at night, and I can understand why. But, contrary to what is bandied around , i.e., that it is a Filipino staple food……. well, it isn’t. Only few Filipinos like to eat balut, (usually the menfolks), and they are actually hard to find. The only source of this delicacy is a place near Manila (the capital city ) called Pateros ( I assume from the Filipino term for duck, which is ” pato” , and pateros means duck raisers. ) Balut became infamous when it was used as a scary thing on the TV show Fear Factor. I’m a bit annoyed at that. I mean, the contestants dealt with snakes, cockroaches, etc, and then , balut was lumped together with these agrhcjkf ! ( I have snake phobia, and I’m not saying this lightly ) . I mean, really ????? Balut is that scary ? * Help me out here, Andy ! ! ! * Andy is another blogger who visited the Philippines 2 months ago, and had eaten lots of baluts , and liked them , too. * Tell them, Andy. * It just tastes like hard-boiled egg, but with natural broth inside. Okay, the problem is , I don’t like to eat it, either. The sensation of eating a duck fetus kind of grosses me out. I salute you, Andy.

Oy ! ! ” runs off ”

About Champorado…….

It’s just rice cooked with chocolate. It’s a very hearty Philippine snack, and breakfast food. Hey, what can go wrong with chocolate, yeah ? Have you eaten chocolate rice cereals ? Champorado tastes something like chocolate rice cereals with milk. I eat this at breakfast , like , 3x a week.

I’ll just give you the recipe. Guys, try this, specially at winter time. Hot champorado is delicious, and so easy to make ! !

You can use sweet sticky rice ( or if not available, regular rice ). Cook the rice normally. Water is added , and amount depends on how you like the champorado, very liquidy or a bit thick. Normal water/rice proportion is 1 is to 1, right ? In Champorado, add about 4 or 5 cups of water, boil , them simmer, then , when the rice is almost cooked, add cocoa powder ( Nestle or whatever …… in the Philippines, pure , unprocessed cocoa they call tablea, which is in solid form , is very much preferred ), then cook some more while stirring. Then add sugar, to taste. Or, you can add sugar in your bowl. Note : Never add sugar before the rice is fully cooked. In your bowl of champorado, add sugar to taste and MILK ! ! ! ( Evaporated milk is preferred, or Half and Half ) Kids will like this, I hope.

Pure, unprocessed cocoa in the Philippines is called tablea . I saw this product at the Filipino store …….expensive , so Nestle is fine. But this tablea is the preferred chocolate for Filipino traditional hot chocolate beverage drink………. superior taste than regular hot chocolate drink. I had this in the Philippines… it is thick, and has that smoky flavor, and Filipinos in olden times drink this with churros, or pan de sal ( like mini French bread ,which is dunked into the hot cocoa drink..)